


The Crash

by Magpie_Crow



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Dad Deciet, It's just cute, M/M, Past Child Abuse, YouTube, okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21588055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magpie_Crow/pseuds/Magpie_Crow
Summary: Roman's mother passed away, leaving him with a load of trauma to deal with. He uses his YouTube platform to share his experiences, never expecting to chance upon a real family.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Morality | Patton Sanders/Deceit Sanders
Comments: 15
Kudos: 140





	The Crash

**Author's Note:**

> I just had an idea, and it was a great idea, so I wrote it. Logan was supposed to show up and be Remus' boyfriend, but I couldn't fit it in quite right, lol.

The young man sat in front of the camera, fidgeting a little from nerves. His dyed red hair brushed across his forehead, bringing out the green in his carefully lined eyes. His makeup was flawless, and his outfit had been selected after hours of deliberation. 

With a stabilizing breath, he pressed the button labeled ‘record’. 

“Hello ladies, lords, and non-binary royalty! This is the Prince of your dreams, and today we’re doing something a little different. I know you’re all used to my makeup tutorials, but my therapist suggested I try to speak publically about my past traumas and experience.” Roman ran a shaking hand through his hair. “So, here I am, talking about me. Someone one said that publishing things is like tossing petals in the Grand Canyon and listening for the crash. This is my handful of petals.”

Bringing in a lungful of air, Roman continued. “My mother was abusive. I lived with her until I could legally leave at the age of eighteen. She…” he paused. “She passed away a few months ago. I hadn’t seen her for four years before I got the call.”

Roman went on to explain how his father had never been in the picture, how his mother always told him that his dad took one look at his face after he was born and just walked out. 

He talked about his mother’s hatred for him, and that she blamed him for his father’s absence. 

He spoke of anything and everything. The neglect, the beatings, all he saw and was subjected to under her iron fist. 

“I’ve been doing better. When I first left, I was working three jobs just to make ends meet. Now I’ve managed to get above that and move forward. It’s hard, especially with my mother’s death bringing up old memories, but I’m making it through.” 

Roman grinned a little. “I’ve made a few friends, both online and in-person, that have really helped me on my journey to recovery. Here’s a quick shout-out to ChemicallyImbalanced, everyone’s favorite cover artist. He’s the one who finally convinced me to talk to a therapist. Who knew what a huge change that would bring!” 

He kept talking about his recovery, his coping mechanisms, and the entirety of the new life he’d built for himself outside of his mother. 

Life was good, he was good. He would be better.

~~

Virgil Storm finished watching PrettyBoyPrince’s new video. He was proud of his friend for taking his advice, and for the positive changes he was making in his life.

He had stumbled across one of Prince’s earliest videos by accident, and was fascinated by the gorgeous man and how deftly he applied makeup. The first thing he’d done after binging Prince’s entire channel was send him a message on Twitter. 

The rest was history. The two had become great friends, and Virgil would even go so far as to say he was Prince’s _best_ friend. Of course, he wouldn’t tell Prince about the tiny crush he harbored for him. That would be preposterous. And stupid. And would probably ruin their friendship. He couldn’t possibly jeopardize that.

With a sigh, he flipped over to Prince’s Twitter, meaning to send him an encouraging message about the video he’d posted. 

Instead, he was interrupted by _his_ best friend barreling through the door.

“Virgil! We need to freeze a bee!”

Virgil blinked a few times, trying to reconcile what he was seeing with what he knew in his head. He knew Remus had a mustache, but the Remus that had just entered his apartment did not.

“What happened to your face?” Something had to have happened. Maybe one of his dads was dying? Or their dog got in an accident? Or… There were any number of things that would make Remus shave.

“Oh, that? I lost a bet.” Remus grinned brilliantly.

Virgil was struck with the sudden realization that Remus looked a _lot_ like Prince. “You don’t have a brother, do you?”

The look Remus gave him was flat. “I don’t even have a mother, Virge, how could I have a brother?” 

“No, no, look!” Virgil showed Remus his phone screen ~~yes, his lockscreen was Prince, don't judge~~. “You two are like twins!”

“Huh. Creepy. I’ll ask dad, I guess?”

Ethan Duke had a habit of knowing everything, even things he ought not know.

“I’ll go with, I’m curious now.”

~~

They found Ethan playing a very serious game of cards with his husband. 

“Two of hearts?” Patton’s voice was timid.

Ethan shook his head. “Go fish.”

“Darn! I thought I had you that time.” 

Virgil grinned as he watched the two adults, not quite wanting to disturb them. 

Remus had no such thing as impulse control. He snatched Virgil’s phone from his lax hand and waved it in Ethan’s face. “Dad! Do I have a twin?”

Ethan, long used to Remus being Remus, caught the quickly moving wrist in order to look at the picture on the phone. “Not as far as I know, that she-devil would have said-” he stopped suddenly, staring at the photo of Prince looking out at him. “She didn’t tell me.”

With a deep frown, Ethan handed his cards to Virgil. “Finish the game for me.” He kissed Patton’s cheek as he passed, heading into his study.

“Well, that was unexpected. Your turn, Virge!” That was the best part about Patton. He was pretty hard to phase. 

~~

Roman didn’t expect his late mother’s cellphone to start ringing from inside the box of her possessions he was trying to sort. It was a task he hated, but needed to take care of before too long. 

He dug the phone out, surprised that it was still at 50%. The caller was an unknown number. Maybe because he hated this job, or maybe out of morbid curiosity, he answered the call.

“Hel-”

“Why the _hell_ didn’t you tell me you were pregnant with twins, Dolores?” The man on the other end of the line spoke before Roman could finish his greeting. He sounded extremely angry.

Dolores was his mother, Dolores Prince, but. Twins? Roman didn’t have a brother.

“Was it because if I’d known, I’d have taken the other one with me too? I hope you didn’t treat him the way you treated everything else in your life. No kid deserves that. I want his contact information, and so help me, if I find out you abused that boy, I’ll make the rest of your life miserable.”

“I- I’m sorry? My mother- Dolores Prince, she… She passed away.” Roman wasn’t sure what was going on. 

“What? What’s your name, young man?”

“Uh. Roman. Roman Prince? How did you get this number?”

The man on the other end sighed heavily. “Dolores sent it to me about four years back. She never said why, and I wasn’t interested in asking.”

Roman was quiet for a minute. “I left her four years ago.”

“That woman. You said she passed away?”

“Yessir.”

“Good riddance. My name is Ethan Duke, and I have a sneaking suspicion that you are my son.”

“Mother told me you left after I was born.” A secret part of Roman’s heart was resentful of this man. This fellow who came into his life years after he needed him. The man who left.

“I didn’t know about you. I took your brother as soon as the nurse handed him over. No-one told me that Dolores was having twins.” Ethan sounded resigned. “I swear, Roman, I would have taken you too.”

Both of them were quiet for a long while before Roman chose to break the silence. “How did you find out?”

“Your brother’s best friend has your face as his lockscreen.”

That wasn’t embarrassing at all. “That’s…. Uh. Something.”

Ethan laughed. “You can say it’s embarrassing, I know Virgil is mortified.”

“Is Virgil-”

“The best friend. Your brother’s name is Remus.” Ethan’s tone suddenly went from light to serious. “Tell me, Roman. Was she abusive?”

Roman’s silence said it all.

“I see. We live in Florida, is there anything we can do to help you come for a visit?”

“I’m in Florida too, actually. Gainesville. I moved here as soon as I turned eighteen.”

Ethan laughed. “We’ve been in the same town for four years and never ran into each other? Fate is a tricky bitch.”

Roman couldn’t help but laugh along.

~~

It was an interesting thing, having a family. Dolores Prince hadn’t been anything like a mother ought to be, and suddenly Roman had a brother and two fathers. It was awkward, at first, but as he got to know them better, the awkwardness dissolved like fog in the sun. 

A notification popped up. PopPat&DadDee commented on his latest makeup video. “Great job, kiddo!”

Roman grinned. He knew it was mostly Patton doing the commenting, but he also knew that both of his fathers watched every single video he posted on his channel.

With a glance at the boy next to him, Roman hit ‘record’. 

“Hello ladies, lords, and non-binary royalty! This is Prince, and I’ve got a special announcement today! You see this adorable fellow to my right?” He gestured over. “This is everyone’s favorite cover artist, ChemicallyImbalanced! I finally convinced him to show his face on camera.” 

Virgil blushed. “Get to the point, Princey.”

“Right, yes! We just wanted to let all our lovely followers know that we’re dating now! I may be a Prince, but he’s the prince of my dreams!”

“Okay, you can stop now.” Virgil buried his face in his hands, and Roman could see that his blush went all the way up to his ears. 

“Thank you all so much for your support. Next week, I’ll have a special guest star in my twin brother!”

To everyone’s surprise, even Roman and Virgil’s, Remus crashed into the room. 

“Bro! Bro! I froze a bee! Oh, hi Virge. I froze a bee!” Remus held out the still figure of a bee, curled up in his palm. “I’m gonna let it warm up in my _mouth_!”

“We had better go. Take it easy, my friends! Peace out!” 

Roman stopped the video and hit post without a second thought. 

Life was great, he was great. Could anything be better?

Probably.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed! 
> 
> I set up a Discord server! <https://discord.gg/gtWgvQ4>  
> Join me to talk about my writing and stuff!
> 
> Find more on tumblr @we-are-fam-ily


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